1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and corresponding method for generating print data to be printed by any of a plurality of printers in a printing network that is configured, for example, as local area network (LAN). More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for selecting a printer or printers at which the printing data is to be printed based on characteristics of the printers, such that the printer selection is made prior to generating the print data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printing networks are known which comprise a plurality of printers and a plurality of host computers connected by a network, such as a LAN, so that the printers can be shared. When using such a printing network to create a document, a user employs an application program, such as a document preparation software program, to prepare the text of the document, and then issues a print command.
Upon receiving the print command, the application program forwards the document data to be printed to a printer driver. The printer driver converts the document data into print data having a predetermined format, such as code readable by the printer for printing out the document, or raster data, and transmits the print data to the network through a network control section. The print data is input via the network to the printer, which then interprets the print data, expands it to printable data, and drives a print engine to thus print the document. Since the printing network described above enables a number of users to share the printers connected to the network, printing efficiency can be enhanced in comparison with an arrangement where each user uses an individual local printer.
A client-server system which is capable of assigning functions of computer resources connected to a network, and a peer-to-peer network for connecting computer resources in equal relationships, are known distributed printing systems which use a network. In the client-server system, a dedicated print server is installed on the network for managing print jobs on the network in a centralized manner. Therefore, the user can keep track of the execution state of his or her requested print job by checking the operation state of the print server.
However, this type of system incurs the additional cost of installing a machine dedicated to 25 the print server. Hence, in recent years, peer-to-peer networks that can be constructed easily have been widely used in the so-called SOHO (Small Office Home Office) market.
However, if a printing system is constructed as a peer-to-peer network, the computer resources have an equal relationship, thus making it difficult to keep track of the print load on the entire network. In recent years, a utility program which provides a network manager for monitoring the printer state on a network through the use of an SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) has been developed.
However, this utility program is expensive, and requires much time and effort to install. Also, this utility program does not effectively locate a printer on the network with a light print load each time printing is executed. Furthermore, if the monitoring utility program is made resident in memory, much memory is consumed.
Therefore, the known utility programs have been inadequate in enabling a user to easily determine the number of unprocessed print jobs assigned to a selected printer, and the time remaining for processing a print request. Therefore, it is difficult for a user to manage a print schedule, especially in high production business settings.
If, however, the user is able to determine that a selected printer has been assigned to print a large number of unprocessed print jobs prior to the user""s print request, the user can cancel the print request assigned to the printer and select another printer. However, much time is wasted in selecting another printer. Also, in such systems, the print data generated by the printer driver is saved on a local disk. Therefore, if the print request is canceled, the saved data is also canceled. Hence, the system must again generate the print data. Accordingly, the total time for completing a desired print job increases drastically.
Therefore, a continuing need exists for a printing network capable of effectively managing print jobs.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a print data generation system for selecting at least one printer from a plurality of printers in a printer network in a manner which improves printing speed.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a print data generation system for selecting at least one of a plurality of printers of the printer network based on expected printing time.
These and other objects of the invention are substantially achieved by providing a printing system comprising a print data generation system for generating print data based on specified print contents, and a plurality of printers, each of which controlling drive of a respective print engine based on print data input from the print data generation system, to print the print contents on a respective print recording medium.
The print data generation system comprises a temporary print request transmitter which transmits a temporary print request to the printers, and a print processing information requestor which requests print processing information indicating a print processing state from each printer based on acceptance information input from each printer in response to the temporary print request. The print data generation system further comprises a selector which selects at least one of the printers based on the print processing information input from the printers, a print request determinator which determines the temporary print request issued to the printer if the selector selects the printer, and a print data generator which generates the print data based on the print contents if the selector selects the printer.
Each of the plurality of printers comprises a print job management table for managing each registered unprocessed print job by relating at least the number of print pages, an acceptance information issuer which issues the acceptance information to the print data generation system in response to the temporary print request, and a print processing information transmitter which detects the print processing information based on the print job management table and transmits the detected print processing information to the print data generation system if a request for the print processing information is made. Each printer further comprises a table manager which updates storage contents of the print job management table if the printer is selected for printing, and a drive control which controls the print engine based on the print data input from the print data generation system.